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Mar. 20, 1923.

J. ALTscHULER ET Al.

FILM NUMBERING MACHINE D DVD CIO UUDUUDUDUCIDUUCI Mar. 20, 1923, 1,448,906 J. ALTSCHULER ET AL FILM NUMBERING NACHI NE Filed Feb. 3, 1917 2 sheets-sheet; 3

g 15276 96 w ri?" 255x if; u y 45 Patented Mar. 20, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH ALTSCHULER AND DEMETRY ISNOW, OF LiOS ANGELES, CALIORNIILA, ASSIGNOBS TO KEYOGRAPH CORPORATION, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE rrLM- NUMnERINQ Application med February-3, 1911#V smal No. 146,856.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that We, JOSEPH ALTSCHULER and DEMETRY IsNovv, the former being a citizen of the United States and the latter bein a subject of the Czar of Ruia, both resi ing. at Los Angeles, in the county of Losi Angles and State of California,l haver invented a new and useful Film-Numbering Machine, of which the following is a specification.

VOur invention relates to the art ofxproi ducingmotion pictures,`and particularly Ito o1: ,reproduce certain portions The-princil"meansby which every foot of lnfcanfbe ini tive'serial'number.'laccompanied'byadate;

pal object of our invention is to'provide f stantly identified `'and instantly-'found This-we accomplish'by giving to each'foot o'f film an' identifying mark' by which it can lbeipsitively identified. The utility of our 'invention' can bejbest illustrated'by considi lering? itsfuse"in oonnection4 tion of4 an`actual picture.- We will assume thata' 'comedy'is to be produced-inA which there is to be a great deal of rapid action and certain ludicrous situations. In the pro- 1 duction of such a comedy many thousand ffeet ofnegative film may be taken. From this :Elma positive film is printed and this film is taken by the director into the pro`ecting room and thrown upon the screen. he director orders it to be cut and arranged, and in 'so doing discards'large portions ofy it. The re-arranged positive is then used as a model' for the cutting and arrangement Where large amountsy of the original positive negative have been discarded the cutting and re-arrangement of the negative is an arduous and diicult task, as the action on the 'two films must'be'compared to identify the film. In using our invention. a negative film is used in Whichveachjfoot i: given an identifying mark, and these identifying marks are printed on the positive. ln producing the reassembled negative, it is simply necessary to Compare the marks on the two films, and by duplicating the markings it is possible to inimediately produce at a small cost a negative that'tvill print new positives that are an exact duplicate to the positive assemblediaccordingto directions-0f the director.:

After the positiveshave-been released and have gone into actual service inthe theatre` they are often damaged, and it becomes necessary to order reprints for the injured portion. At the presentvtime -this-.is-done by identifying 4the scene and describing the action -of. thefparts immediately before or immediately after the injured portion, specifying the' numbenof rfeet'needed.V By using ourinvention-.it is-possiblejto order-the inance thatthefflrn-sent 'will agree ,in every particularlwith that-injuredmi. ifi. A furtherobject of: our. ;invention.'is to provide on each foot of ilnrconsecutiveseriaLnu'rnbers -fo'n thefpurpo'se .ot rkeeping records andaccountingfdfor all of the film.4

'A still furthermbject-ofl ourinvention' is 1:75 to mark on each-foot .of-@the filrnfiaconse'cu- It' commona practice 1in 'the' motion pic- 'ture art' fo'rfthe motion vpicture-producing to provide a novel and useful apparatus for accomplishing the above objects, this apparatus being entirely automatic in its action and being very inexpensive to install and maintain. f 95 Further objects and advantages will be set forth more in detail hereinafter, or will be evident to one skilled in the art after an 1nspection of the drawings in connection with the following specification.

ln the drawings, which are for illustrative purposes only:

Figure l is a perspective view of our 1nventi'on applied to a diagrammatically shown perforator. i

Fig. 2 is a plan view of our invention. Fig. 3 is a section on a plane represented by the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a section on a plane represented by the line 44 of Fig. 2.

foi'aiur;r mafgluuc i2, and passes over' the hgh! slot f'i ui such a position that the light slot fi is outside the perforations 121 of that film. Suitable driving means are provided for all the mechanismt and suitable winding)r or unzvinding means are provided for the negative film 220. This apparatus formY ing rio part of thc present invention is not illustrated. The t\vo films are held in contact hv a hinged and weighted gate 130 as is clcarllv shown iu Figs. 3 and 4.

'lhe method of operation ofthe invention is as follows:

'l'he perfor-azur lzeing suitably driven. the bevel gear 13 drives the bevel gear 17 through the gears 14 and 16 and the shaft l5. The bevel gear 17 drives the shaft 64, which in turn drives the gears and 41, The shaft 6l turns freely and is not used for any purpose while the machine is'operatinv normally. The gear 41 drivesthe vban wheel 42 through the sleeve 40, and the band wheel i through the sprinUs '51. The wheel 50 drives the shaft 3| whici in turn drives the shutter 32. A suitable luminous source, such as an incandescent lamp 126` is placed inside the shutter 32. The belt 43 drives the sprocket. 44 and winds up the lm.47 in the direction of the arrows. This film passes over the teeth 69 of the sprocket 68 which is driven through the clutch member 71 and the shaft 67 by means of the worm gear 66 of the n'oriu 65. The purpose of the worm and the worm gear 66 and the sprocket 71 is to provide for an accurate movement of the film 47 in s vnchronism with the movement of the film 120. The film 120moves intermittently. due to the mechanism in the perfnrator 12 bein,"v held stationary while the perforations are being made, and then be.

ing advanced a reltain distance for the purpose of makin;Y ner perforations. The films 120 and 47 therefore move at right angles to each other and in perfect syn'chronism.thc film 47 unwindincv from the reel 85 and heiligr passed over the rollers 81 -and 82. 'l`lee gearingY is so arranged. that the aper ture 33 registers with the aperture 26 at one of the stationary periods of the films and at regular intervals alongY the film 120. These intervals can conveniently be one foot. but ma` \r he longer or shorter if desired.

iVhenever the aperture 33 registers with the aperture 2G. light from the lamp 126 passes through these apertures and through the cellnloid plates 107 and the film 47 to the sensitized emulsion on the film 120. It i?. to he understood that. the film 120 is either full.l covered bv sheathing` not shown` or the whole operation takes place in a dnrl( roomy the latter hcing the. usual method of procedure The film 120 has therefore printed ou its c\'lrcmc edge a series of symbols, slu'li :is thine shown iu Fig i, and these symv 42 drives the. adjusting wheel 50.

bols appear when the film is subsequently developed. These symbols are outside the perforations 121 and usually consist of a letA ter 133 denoting the month. a number 134 denoting)r the number of feet of film, and a number 136 denoting the day of the month. By this means, each days run is printed to show the day on which it was perforated and numberedl and each foot'of the film is given a consecutive number 134; While the apparatus is shown in connection with a perforator 12, and while the films 120 and 47 are described as beingr moved intermittently1 it is possible to number the film 120 without the use ofthe perforator l2, it sim plyr being run by the filnr 47 at a constant speed, the film 47 being driven at aconstant speed havingT a certain ratio to the speed of the film 120. The shutter 32 will then make an exposure at certain definite intervals'and the numbers will beprintedonf'the edge of the film.` 'We'findthat-the numbers'will be someivhatblurred 4if x'tlie film' is'frun constantly,` andp'rferthe' intermittent motion, although a-nstantsped: isv possible-fand practical and is included in the fundamental conception of our invention.

-It is necessary that the aperture 33 and the shutter 32 register with the light slot 26 when the numbers 100 on the film 47 are accurately over the aperture. This is readily accomplished by sliding the numbering,Y machine 11 along the base 80, so that the gear 1.7 is out of mesh with the gear 16, and then placing a crank on the square head 62 of the shaft 61, turningv the film 47 until it accurately registers. The shutter 32 is then turned independently of the band wheel 42 by means of the adjusting wheel 50,-the friction of the spring 51 being light enough to allor this. The shaft 61 may also be used to nctuatc the band wheel 42.

lf it is desired to rewind the film, the clutch member 71 is pulled outwardly. as shown in Fig. 8. so that the sprocket 68 can turn free from the shaft 67, and the crank is placed on the square end of the shaft 89. the wheel 85 beingr turned by means of the rcrears 88 and 87.

We claim as our invention 1. A film numbering machine comprising' a case having a light slot in the top thereof; a luminous source inside said case; a shutter between said luminous Source and said slot, said shutter having an aperture which may be made to register with said slof.; a printingT film having symbols printed thereon: means for feeding said film across said slot; means for feeding the film to he numheied across said printing film and Said slot: and mechanism for so drivin'cy said films and said shutter that said aperture iegisters with said slot at the same instant that each of said svmbols registers with said slot llU A tilui numberingV machine mntprisiiirfr a Acase, having n light slot in the top there of: a printing lilm having u series of symbols formed thereon; means for feedingr saifl film oren said lightl slot; means for feeding the hlm to he printed over said printingl film; and means for causinlgr light to shim: through said slot whenever one et s ziid symA holsregisters with said slot.

3. A' film; numbering machine comprising ncase having a light slot in the top there of: :Lipfintin film haring a series o symhols formedv t iereon; means for feeding snirl tijm. over said light slot; means for feeding the film bo be printed over said printing film; a.luminous source inside said case so placed that the light, thereof may shine through.- saidA slot; and means for preventingsaid light from sri-shining except when one ofi-said symbols registers with said slot.

4. A film-numbering maehine comprising 1i ense having-1a,` light-'slot in `the topthereoff, a-printin ylmghavingo',v series ofi symhols-formedft eneon; means-for feeding said Afit-m oversaid lightl slot; means for feeding thv film to be printed overv Said hrinling film;` :t luminousisouree inside said case so placed that the light thereof may shine through said slot; a shutter for preventing said light from shining through said slot, said shutter having an aperture formed therein; und means for causing said :ipertu re to register with said slot Whenever one nt said symbols registers with said slot.

A film symbolizing;r machine comprising a (xising having light slots, a source of light within said casing, :i printin film :nid :i hlm to he symbolized nssociaibe with said easing, and means for superimposing: successive sections of said film to be sym` holized to successive sections of said printing film in front of said light slots Afor causing permanent reactions on the film to be symbolized.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands at Los ngeles1 Californiaf this 24th day Cif-January, 1917.

Jesi-:PH ALTSCHULER. DEMETRY ISNOW. 

